NYISO announces "Distributed Energy Resource" pilot projects

RENSSELAER, N.Y. -- The New York Independent System Operator, Inc. (NYISO) today announced the selection of three pilot projects to demonstrate the capabilities of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and options for their integration into its wholesale markets. These pilot projects support the NYISO's DER Roadmap, which establishes a clear path for integrating DERs and, in so doing, will help the state of New York achieve its goals for Reforming the Energy Vision (REV).

"The grid of the future will increasingly be supported by a diverse mix of distributed resources," said NYISO President & CEO Brad Jones. "These pilot projects will support our efforts at the NYISO to integrate distributed resources into our markets and operations in ways that improve system efficiency, resilience, and resource diversity. The lessons we learn from these pilots will build on our record of delivering value to New Yorkers by expanding competitive opportunities for distributed energy resources to meet system needs and help improve New York's existing energy infrastructure."

The pilot program, announced in October 2017, is designed to inform the NYISO's market design efforts, build operational DER experience among the NYISO, utilities and pilot participants, and demonstrate new or revised operational coordination processes among NYISO, utilities and DER aggregators. A common objective of these pilot projects is to demonstrate the potential for DERs to offer services to both retail/distribution-level programs and wholesale markets. The NYISO received ten proposals for consideration and has selected the following DER aggregation projects to move forward:

•Front-of-the-meter batteries, managed and operated by Con Edison, to demonstrate the coordination of multiple DERs to be effectively dispatched by NYISO or Con Edison depending on system needs or conditions;

•Front-of-the-meter batteries co-located with solar to evaluate the ability of such aggregated resources to provide both wholesale and retail services. The system will be managed and operated by Borrego Solar, Inc.; and

•High-rise buildings with curtailable (readily adjustable) energy load, managed and operated by iES - Integrated Energy Services Corporation, led by CEO Brock Nigg, which will evaluate the capability of building management systems to provide ancillary services.

The pilot program will be administered through a test environment that is not integrated into the NYISO's production market and operations systems. This will enable the pilot projects to test and demonstrate new operational processes and alternative communications solutions that may not be permitted under today's market rules.

The NYISO is working with each project participant to evaluate facility interconnection and finalize preparations through the end of this year. It is expected that demonstration testing will begin in the first half of 2019.

Key findings from the pilot program will be shared with market participants and stakeholders as the NYISO works to develop operational processes and market rules to integrate DER as well other resources.